The Opelousas courier., 1887-02-05
A LOST NUGGET.
THE STORY OLA NINETY-POUND
LUMP OF GOLD.
Its Discovery in the Old California
Mining Days-Lost and RecoV-
cred a Number of Times
"A Long Search.

Referring to the fact that a party had
left Colorado Springs to hunt for the
stLost Nugget, a writerin the New York
Sun gives the following account of this
remarkable lump Of gold:
In the old mining days of California
five or six men who had come out to-
! gether from Indiana had u claim on the
San joaquin River. They were doing
fairly well, but nothing to brag of, when
/ one Of them, q man nam d Charles Y.
Tooker, whose relatives yet live in In
| dianapolis, made the discovery of the
| celebrated nugget. It was in the spring
of the wear, and he WIS out hunting for
roots and herbs to cure q sort of scurvy
! which had taken hold of soma of them.
In climbing up a bank he disiodged
q boulder, and as this rolled down it un-
covered the nugget. 1t was a chunk Of
crude gold, weighing about ninety
pounds. It is not likely that the mass
was as pure as the average OF small mug
J gets, but still it must have been worth
/ many thousand dollars. The entire bank
was afterward dug away, and the neigh.
borhood for half q mile around carefully
searched, but without another ounce OF
gold being found.
Tooker was a single man, about TWEEN
ty-seven years old, and up to this hour
it had been share and share alike with
the little band. His mind was instantly
made up to keep his discovery to him
! self, and to get away with his treasure
at the first opportunity. He dug a hol G
and buried the find, carefully marked
the spot, and returned to camp and tried
to conceal his satisfaction aud anxiety.
1t was a month before he made any move.
His object was to get the nugget to San
Francisco, and it must be carried on the
back of a horse or mule, He had to in
vent an excuse for separating himself
from the band, and this probably gave
rise to the first suspicious. Tooker pur-
chased a mule of an immigrant, hung
around until he believed it was safe for
him to depart, and then dug up his mug
get one night and set out on a journey
which would not have been safe for half
a dozen men to undertake. Those were
rough days, and men who had met with
poor luck hunting for gold in the earth
! were on the road as robbers and assas-
sins. lockers companions felt certain
that he had made a find, and his every
action was under surveillance for several
DAYS before he started. He quietly with
drew from camp at night, led his mule
to the spot where the nugget was
cached, and loading it upon a pack sad
die he started off. He must have known
of the dangers of the road, but the de-
sire to convert that big lump into gold
pieces overcame his prudence. He was
followed by two Of his companions, but
they hardly knew what course to take.
lie had made a find and was jumping"
them, but they had no legal right to
force d division:
Tcoker was followed until daybreak,
and the men had about made up their
minds to halt him and force him to turn
back with his precious burden whfp he
was attacked by four or five footpads. A
lively fight ensued, and Tooker and one OF
his pursuers were killed and the other
! was driven off. He returned to camp
with the story, and this was the first of
a long series of adventures In which The
big nugget has figured. lockers friends
determined to overhaul the robbers and,
five in number, they broke camp at once
and began a pursuit. The foo,pads had
! camp or rendezvous within q few miles
Of where the robbery occurred, and the
nugget was taken there for safety. This
Camp was discovered by theo q color
crowd, and in the fight which folftrxin
two of them were killed, while only one
of the robbers escaped with his life. The
nugget had been buried, and although
the closest search was made for it the
yictors did not unearth it. The robber
who escaped made his way to San Fran
cisco. and six months later set about or
ganizlng an expedition to go after tho
lump. Cne of the men who was to ac-
company him got the location of the
cache and set out with a companion and
reached the place two days ahead Of the
others. The nugget was found, loaded
! on the baek of q mule, and the two had
a start of day and a half. They jour-
neycd about forty m les, buried the lump
near d mining camp. and staked out .
/ claim and went to work as q part of the
programme to preserve theif secret.
| They remained in camp for six weeks,
! and then left on foot, their mule having
! been stolen. What happened to them
| and the nugget is not known. or at least
/ has not been stated. The next time the
big lump was heard from it was I'M
earthed in the Hot Creek Mountains Of
| Nevada, by three miners who had come
from California. The fact that they dug
| it up and had it in their possession was
knownto a band of sixty or seventy m
migrants, with whom the trio Travelled
| for several days. Everybody got a look
at the lump, and its history was related
by one of the po SCISSORS.
Before crossing theli einto California
the three men and the nugget left the
train secretly and were never heard Of
again. It was three years before the
nugget was heard of again, and informa-
ton of its whereabouts then came through
| q half-breed Indian who was dying ct q
| military post in Colorado. lie told a
sergeant Of cavalry where it could be
found, and the sergeant and two private
soldiers deserted and went to secure it.
They were tracked to a mountain about
| iftv miles away, and were found to have
| dug up something and headed for i an
sas. they were followed for q day and
d half. and then the bodies of the two
privates we're found on the ground, shot
| through the head. The sergeant had
murdered them in order to have the
prize all to himself. Civil officers all
over Kansas and Nebraska were notified
/ to be on the lookout for the descrter and
murderer, but to this day NJ m can tell
what fate befell him. The big nugget
| has been heard Of N an indirect and